HR PROFESSIONALS are struggling to make the most of the technology available to them, according to a recent report from the UK, with almost half claiming their systems are difficult for HR departments to use
HR PROFESSIONALS are struggling to make the most of the technology available to them, according to a recent report from the UK, with almost half claiming their systems are difficult for HR departments to use.
Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) have the potential to alter the way people management and development professionals work to relieve administrative burdens and allow them more scope to play a strategic role and help deliver business goals.
The majority of employers in the UK have a HRIS and one of the main reasons for introducing it is to reduce the administrative burden. However a third of employers believe the reduction in administrative burden is less than they expected.
“HR professionals who fail to realise the potential of their HRIS will not be able to play their full role in the organisation,” said Martyn Sloman, training, learning and development adviser for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which undertook the research.
“They will not be able to provide line managers with the information they need to manage labour costs and develop their staff. Nor will they be able to report on human capital. HR could be much more ambitious in its requirements and join forces with IT in order to make full use of the systems.”
Employers will experience fewer problems during implementation, he said, and reap benefits right at the start by involving HR staff in the development and introduction of new technology within the organisation as a whole.
The survey also looked at HR’s role in the selection, implementation and development of new technology more generally.
When new technology is introduced in the wider workplace HR becomes increasingly involved at the implementation and post implementation stages. But HR is insufficiently involved in the preliminary design stages and roughly half of organisations decisions to introduce new technology are taken without reference to HR.
Furthermore, 71 per cent of employers have an intranet and one of its main purposes is to provide HR information to staff and enable them to download forms. But only 48 per cent are using it to get feedback from staff.
“This is an area where there is more potential than progress. HR should work with communications and IT to develop an intranet system that will help to reduce administrative burdens, improve internal communication and meet business objectives,” Sloman said.
“Involving employees should improve staff feedback, communication and can offer rewards in terms of employee motivation and engagement.”
The CIPD research was recently underscored by US firm Gartner, which said the IT function needed to reinvent itself from being focused on cost driven initiatives and instead help key employees create higher impact growth objectives that promote business agility.
“Raising productivity by cutting the cost of production time is running out of steam,” said Tom Austin, group vice president of Gartner.
“To increase competitive advantage, organisations need to look for opportunities to increase market impact, including value and agility, by investing in a high-performance workplace.”
Austin said businesses must help people deal with non-routine situations, empower individuals and raise the quality and impact of what people do.
“This shift is driven by major changes in the nature of work, the skills of the workforce and the upcoming fall off in opportunities for new ‘big bang’automation projects.”
High-performance workplaces are unstructured, according to Austin, and focus on transformational agility, innovation and creativity without losing sight of structured obligations.
Five technologies have a significant role in innovation programs. They include content and knowledge base management, expertise location, search and classification, collaboration support, and business and competitive intelligence.
Collectively, Austin said these technologies provide information access, information on patterns and trends as well as tools that allow people to find each other, connect and collaborate.
“The collective benefits of these technologies can be measured as high productivity, increased idea generation, and improved relevance and quality innovation program deliverables.”
A high-performance workplace will enhance activities that are key to creating competitive advantage, driving long-term, top-line growth and enhancing productivity, Austin said.
“Skilled workers earn more and companies want more from them. Ultimately, the returns from augmenting non-routine activities will exceed the returns we’ve seen from automating business applications.”
